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This is the big one. I've not liked an Oakland Mayor since Elihu Harris, whose politics I did not agree with most of the time, but who had the courtesy to actually answer the phone and speak to citizens. (Unlike Ron Dellums, whose office will tell you that he does NOT speak to citizens. But I did not vote for Ron, he's a burnt out comet, whom I remember with awe from the seventies, but who should never have taken the office in Oakland.) Jean Quan's a puzzle. I ate lunch with a friend a couple days ago, a woman who owns a local green company ( if saving the Bay is green), and we seemed to hit on the same note. Uhh, she's great for local stuff. Great! Run a city like Oakland? No way. Her idea of "taking a hit in pay" is was to take a 5% cut and a 4% COLA increase. wow. i'm so impressed. Oakland's pension burden is not going away and it is the single biggest problem the city faces. Quan's token efforts show her beliefs. Don Perata, I would not t...

Jack Clark of Cal Rugby On Tuesday, as this blogger was traveling away from the San Francisco Bay Area and Cal Berkeley, UC Berkeley was in the process of nuking it's prized Rugby Program, and destroying Cal Athletics as we know it. Rugby Coach Jack Clark was fired - his position ends June 2011 -  and the program dumped to varsity sports status. The reason given was Title IX requirements to financially equalize male and female sports, but given that Coach Clark had a plan to fund and to elevate Women's Rugby to intercollegiate status that was jettisoned by the Cal Administration, using Title IX as an excuse is pure horseshit. The overall issue has been Cal's need to cut the overall budget of the athletic department, but the one revenue-generating program, Men's Rugby, and its coach who has a plan to elevated women's rugby, was a major target. For someone not familiar with this issue at all, Cal Men's Rugby has achieved legendary status in the sport...

Dr. Candell - I didn't endorse him Note: no endorsement for any mayoral candidate from this space, yet. When this blogger attended the second Oakland Mayor's Race Forum at The Lakeshore Baptist Church, a sheet of paper was being passed around the audience. It was a petition to have the name of Dr. Terrance Candell on the ballot for the election for Mayor of Oakland. I asked what I was signing before I put my name to the paper; such a signature is not an endorsement of any candidate. For some reason, my name is listed in the voter guide as endorsing Dr. Candell for Mayor. It's not true. The news of this problem came from Oakland businessman and once-challenger of Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente (District Five - Fruitvale, Central East Oakland) Mario Juarez, who via Facebook asked if I'd lost my mind. Of sound mind, certainly. A call to the City of Oakland City Clerk Office did confirm Mr. Juarez's report. The person on the phone then said they ...

From Pamela Drake- Oaklanders who want fair elections and who believe that candidates for election to Oakland offices should not violate the laws that they have promised to uphold, should show up at the City Council Rules Committee tomorrow, Oct 1st, at 10:45 AM. We're asking the Council to close the loophole that lets Don Perata's buddies violate the law on behalf of him and then announce that all bets are off on violating the spirit and intent of our campaign reforms.In what world does this sound remotely ethical; but it may just barely be legal unless we close that loophole now! Please read: Open Letter to the Mayor, Oakland City Council, City Attorney, and the Public Ethics Commission: The Oakland Campaign Reform Act of 2008 was devised to promote good government and to protect Oakland’s electorate from the undue influence of money in the choice of our elected leaders. Former Senator Don Perata has shown by his actions that he will not abide by those laws, even while he is...

Jean Quan and her supporters put together a video about her work with youth, neighbors, and merchants on how to take Oakland back and lower crime and violence block by block. About Pamela Drake- I'm one of Jean's supporters. We urge you to call her campaign office at 444-Quan or go to jeanquanforoakland.org. Jean will be the hardest working mayor Oakland has ever had!

Anyone that opposes the West Oakland Eminent Domain Project is invited to sign the online petition. City Council meeting for public comment is October 5th, 6:30 PM City Hall

Oakland Mayor's Race Forum first take. (Which means, there's going to be more of these posts on last night, because a lot was happening.) This just in: The Oakland Tribune's out of touch with Oakland. A number of attendees of the 450 estimated said they learned of the Oakland League Of Women Voters via "the newspaper." All of the people who made that statement were over 50 years old. Still, the forum, which attracted every candidate except Dr. Terrance Candell, was a success. The auditorium at 300 Lakeside Drive seats 380 people, so if you do the math, it was about 70 over capacity. The crowd was a happy mix of supporters of candidates and long-time observers of the Oakland political scene. The one complaint they had was there wasn't enough time to hear what the candidates were about. That wasn't because there were too many candidates, but due to the format. Either Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds or the League of Women Voter...